The global financial crisis and the Constitution
The global financial crisis and the Constitution

Summary/Abstract: The study of constitutions in the context of the global financial crisis can be structured through two distinct questions: how can constitutions help in the crisis and what happens to constitutions during such a crisis? Beyond its economic impact, the 2008 financial crisis has produced new constitutional stories. One of the most important issues that we should discover is “How does the global financial crisis affect constitutions and their enforcement?” Nonetheless, one could begin by asking the exact opposite that is “Can constitutions affect the course and the consequences of the financial crisis?” The interaction between the financial crisis and constitutions differs in each legal order as it is correlated to the exact form the crisis took in each country, varying in terms of intensity and symptoms, and also because constitutions and political systems have their own safety valves in response to such challenges. Looking back to the 1930s, the New Deal constitutional moment and the collapse of the Weimar Constitution are suggestive of the interaction between major financial crises and constitutions, indicating that completely adverse reactions may occur. What happens depends on a combination of constitutional design and multiple external factors. This attempt to document how constitutions responded to the 2008 global financial crisis is structured by addressing a series of questions that aim to reveal what dominated the country- specific dialogues.

• Details
• Contents